OT: Allergy testing for kids..is it horrible for them?

[WeLoveLilo05]

My DD had this done too about 2 years ago they tested her for peanut allergy which we already knew she had, they did maybe about 12 pricks in her back (testing for a few tree nuts and eggs). She cried the whole time
The had her sit on her daddy's lap and he had to hold her hands I held her hair. Those little pricks points didn't go away for some time though.

JW, some people mention going back for a 4th time, did your react to something and wanted to get tested? And some people mention up to 50 pricks can I ask why?

DD is allergic to peanuts, we keep her away from tree nuts as well b/c she did blow up a little from the almond one that they tested on her back. I really don't want to put her through that again, is there any reason that I should?

 

[kim_o]

I don't remember how old I was when I got tested, but I'd say around 10. I remember it vividly because it was awful. The skin pricks (about 50 of them) themselves weren't bad, but the itching was horrendous. Most of the prick itches were mildly annoying, but the few I was horribly allergic to had me crying to my mother because it itched so badly. She sat with me while I sobbed and scratched my back right next to the bad spots, which helped a lot.

After the prick test, there were about 20 things that I had a "possible/mild" allergy, so to further test it I got injections up and down my arms, thus starting my fear of needles that continued until my first pregnancy. ;-)

I'm not trying to be a downer, but I saw so many "not that bad" posts and it is definitely something I don't ever want to do again if the "cat" prick (my most severe allergy) is included.

In response to a pp: I had some form of asthma and the doctors were trying to figure out if there was an allergic trigger or if it was just exercised induced. So, since they weren't testing for a specific allergy (peanuts/tree nuts) they tested them all.

 

[disfan07]

I have had allergy tests done 3 times in the past 4 years.


I had them done with a tray of I think 12 needles each (13 different allergens) that IMO can barely be felt.

In january, I had 72 items tested on my back.

Time wise, the pricks took like 2 minutes to do and they waited like 15 minutes to see a reaction.

IMO, nothing compares to having chemical testing done. They put patches on your back with chemicals on them and you have to leave those on for 48 HOURS!!! it's horrendous. I had a severe reaction to 3 chemicals and all i wanted to do was scratch my back off!!

 

[littlbugmom]

My dd was tested at 5yrs old by a ped allergist. It wasn't painful at all but it itched and she couldn't scratch it. It wasn't bad. She had to stay distracted for a period of time but it wasn't bad at all.

A year later, we saw a ped ENT and the allergist who works in his office. She did the prick test again and then did some tests on her arm (using a needle to put the liquid under her skin). Even that wasn't painful but very itchy.

My ds is turning 6 today. We've waited to get him tested (although, he sees the ENT) because of his personality and sensory issues. I'm hoping to get him tested this year.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

My DD had this done too about 2 years ago they tested her for peanut allergy which we already knew she had, they did maybe about 12 pricks in her back (testing for a few tree nuts and eggs). She cried the whole time
The had her sit on her daddy's lap and he had to hold her hands I held her hair. Those little pricks points didn't go away for some time though.

JW, some people mention going back for a 4th time, did your react to something and wanted to get tested? And some people mention up to 50 pricks can I ask why?

DD is allergic to peanuts, we keep her away from tree nuts as well b/c she did blow up a little from the almond one that they tested on her back. I really don't want to put her through that again, is there any reason that I should?

My ds had about 50 pricks at his testing when he was 5 or 6. They did that because we didn't come in complaining of one specific thing, he didn't just have trouble with a food or pollen. His doctor suspected that his asthma symptoms were allergy related, so he tested him for a bit of everything...foods, nuts, pollens, dust, etc. The only thing that reacted was the dust and dust mites. We treat that now and his asthma symptoms are much improved.

 

[momz]

there have been a lot of threads about allergies lately. Why do you think there is so much of it now?

while allergies have affected people for all time, it seems that in our generation it has become more extreme. everybody and their brother has taken an antihistamine at some point, and many people have such severe allergies that they have to keep epinephrine with them at all times. Did people of earlier generations have this problem?

Have our immune systems changed in some way when compared to a hundred years ago? Why are "we" so susceptible?

Anyway...these are my questions....anyone have an answer?

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

there have been a lot of threads about allergies lately. Why do you think there is so much of it now?

while allergies have affected people for all time, it seems that in our generation it has become more extreme. everybody and their brother has taken an antihistamine at some point, and many people have such severe allergies that they have to keep epinephrine with them at all times. Did people of earlier generations have this problem?

Have our immune systems changed in some way when compared to a hundred years ago? Why are "we" so susceptible?

Anyway...these are my questions....anyone have an answer?

When I asked my ped allergist why, what caused her to be allergic to peanuts as no one in my family or fiance's family is allergic to anything (well my mom had a reaction to shellfish, but other than her, no one) and he gave me a list of theories, one of them being the mother's peanut consumption while the baby was in utero which I thought may be true since I ate so much PB while pregnant and I really don't even like it I just craved it. But he said these are theories and nothing has been proven why.

 

[Reagan&Co.]

My ds had about 50 pricks at his testing when he was 5 or 6. They did that because we didn't come in complaining of one specific thing, he didn't just have trouble with a food or pollen. His doctor suspected that his asthma symptoms were allergy related, so he tested him for a bit of everything...foods, nuts, pollens, dust, etc. The only thing that reacted was the dust and dust mites. We treat that now and his asthma symptoms are much improved.

Ooh, that worries me. We don' have a specific complaint, either. But everytime we sleep away from home (hotel, grandpa's, cruise ship, etc.), DS gets VERY congested. It turns into a sinus infection/ bronchitis/something he ends up needing antiboitics for. If I could figure out what the problem is, I can maybe figure out what preventative meds to give him. I hate the thought of long-term meds, but antibiotics aren't ideal, either.....

 

[Reagan&Co.]

there have been a lot of threads about allergies lately. Why do you think there is so much of it now?

while allergies have affected people for all time, it seems that in our generation it has become more extreme. everybody and their brother has taken an antihistamine at some point, and many people have such severe allergies that they have to keep epinephrine with them at all times. Did people of earlier generations have this problem?

Have our immune systems changed in some way when compared to a hundred years ago? Why are "we" so susceptible?

Anyway...these are my questions....anyone have an answer?

Those are good questions. Off the top of my head, I feel like the environment is to blame, along with all the preservatives, pesticides, and hormones put into our foods.
DS is the only one in our family with allergies. And I breastfed him for over a YEAR (so much for THAT theory!).

 

[NikP]

there have been a lot of threads about allergies lately. Why do you think there is so much of it now?

while allergies have affected people for all time, it seems that in our generation it has become more extreme. everybody and their brother has taken an antihistamine at some point, and many people have such severe allergies that they have to keep epinephrine with them at all times. Did people of earlier generations have this problem?

Have our immune systems changed in some way when compared to a hundred years ago? Why are "we" so susceptible?

Anyway...these are my questions....anyone have an answer?

It is possible that allergies always existed. It is possible that these people just died young with doctors not knowing why, or misdiagnosed. Maybe it has something to do with the records and information access we now have. These things might not be more prevalent, but are reported more often. Many children when I was young had their tonsils removed. Was it really reoccuring tonsilities? or swollen tonsils due to repeative post nasal drip. Who really knows why?

 

[Manda]

JW, some people mention going back for a 4th time, did your react to something and wanted to get tested?

My son had allergies to dairy and soy from infancy. It's usually outgrown, so they retest every year until they test negative. He outgrew both by 3. But he had test panels done until then. They only did the prick test for a handful of allergens though - the two we knew he was allergic too, and then they added peanut (since it's often along with soy allergies), and then cats (since we had two at the time), and a couple other very common environmental allergens (trying to determine his asthma trigger).

And some people mention up to 50 pricks can I ask why?

As an adult, I had the "full panel" done where they test on a selection of the most common allergies. All they knew was that I was allergic to something, anything, and almost all the time. So, they tested for a bunch of different trees, dust mites, molds, weeds, cockroaches (EW), animals, etc. I was allergic to most except the bugs and mold. I was told that they rarely do the whole thing like that on kids though.

My son's getting some done on Monday. He's 6 now. I'll report back on how it goes, LOL.

 

[syudelson]

there have been a lot of threads about allergies lately. Why do you think there is so much of it now?

while allergies have affected people for all time, it seems that in our generation it has become more extreme. everybody and their brother has taken an antihistamine at some point, and many people have such severe allergies that they have to keep epinephrine with them at all times. Did people of earlier generations have this problem?

Have our immune systems changed in some way when compared to a hundred years ago? Why are "we" so susceptible?

Anyway...these are my questions....anyone have an answer?

My daughter has a peanut allergy even though no one else in our families have any allergies -- our doctor said there's an unproven theory that our obsession with "clean" (antibiotic soaps, wipes, cleaners) as well as over use of oral antibiotics has changed our bodies abilities to fight off "invaders" and has left us more susceptible to allergens.

 

[Mommy2Abby]

I didn't see this posted already, although I did read through it pretty quickly, so forgive me if it's a repeat...

We had the skin test done for DD when she was just over 2. When the kids are that young, they do it on their back instead of their arm because there's more room (plus they can't scratch as easily on their backs). The allergist wrote us a prescription for some numbing cream (lidocaine maybe?) that we applied to her back with a bandage over the top about 1 hour before the test. I don't think DD even felt the skin pricks. She still cried, but that was more about having to sit still long enough for them to do it. You might want to ask your allergist if some sort of numbing cream can be used before the test if you're concerned about how your son will do.

In addition to seasonal allergies, she is also allergic to peanuts and they do a blood draw for a RAST test once a year for that. Now THAT is not a fun procedure!

Good luck OP...allergies are no fun!

 

[deerhart]

The pediatrician would like us to consider testing DS7 for allergies. It would be a referral to a pediatric allergist, but I guess they would still do a bunch of pinpricks all over?

Does anyone have experience with this? Do they do the arm or back? How bad does it hurt? DS does not cry for shots or finger blood pricks, but I worry the continuous pricking will upset him.

I want to be prepared before I call for the referral. Thank you!

It depends on the tests they want to do (isn't that a great answer).

The test most people have been discussing here is a quick screening test where they run a thing with about 12-30 pegs on it over your arm to see if you have any reaction. Its like running a hard bristle brush on the arm with quick results and for MOST people is all the testing you need. On this they can either do a screen for the most common allergens or just very specific ones.

The other type of testing they do is on your back and involves pin pricks/injections. This testing is usually done when your going to receive allergy shots in order to determine the smallest concentration of the allergen you react with. I had this test done when I was 18 and it was absolutely the most horrendous thing I ever did. It was almost 6 hours of testing, I reacted badly to some of the sites and had even more reactions (including HUGE welts and hives) over the course of the next 4 days and it itched like crazy. Though, we did find out that I react at 1:1millionth concentration for mold (YIKES) which explained a TON. I had pretty close to 100 injections on my back as they have to test each concentration to determine if there is a reaction and the size of the reaction. Concentrations range from 1:1millionth, 1:100,000 1:10,000 1:5000 1:1000 1:100, 1:10 1:1. so that's up to about 8 injections PER allergen mixture they are testing. Yeah fun!

 

[vettechick99]

DD is a great doctor's-visit child but we found the back testing to be excrutiating. How can it not hurt? They press needles into your back all at once. And for her it happened 4 times. She screamed - it was awful!

They will cry, they will try and scratch at it, so bring a distraction like a sucker or game and it'll go a lot easier.

 

[disney_family_1247]

I think it's actually called the scratch test. My son was four when he had one. It didn't hurt, but he reacted to a couple of the allergens, which caused terrible itching. They can't move for twenty minutes, so he was pretty uncomfortable. The test was negative for peanuts, so the doctor ordered a blood test afterwards. That was positive

 

[starsweeper]

My DS (age 3 ) had this done last month. It was traumatic for him. They did about 25 tests on his back (scratch test) and he screamed for about 10 minutes and cried quietly until they washed his back (about 20-25 minutes total). He talked about it to his sister and other family members for over a week.

 

[SylviaL]

Our family just participated in the Children's Memorial Food Allergy Study. Both of my boys have severe peanut/tree nut allergies so I requested that no skin testing be done, just RAST tests. They were great because they used some numbing spray before drawing the blood so that not even DD3 cried. However, DH and I had the skin testing done. Ouch! They pressed a board with 8 allergens onto each of our arms. I am so glad they didn't do it to our kids b/c I'm sure they would have cried!

If there is anyone who lives in the Chicago area and has a child with a known allergy, you may be interested in this study at Children's Memorial Hospital:

http://www.childrensmrc.org/allergy/study/

They are researching the environmental and genetic factors contributing to the rise in numbers of children with food allergies. They need both parents and at least one child to participate. Their goal is to have 1,000 trio families participate and currently have about 650. Each participant gets a $25 Target giftcard (we took home $125+some travel expenses). A nice side benefit to this study is that they will give you the results of the skin/RAST tests. We had been meaning to get DD3 tested and this way, we saved at least $500.

 

[JoanGirardi]

My oldest son has had the scratch tests and the RAST tests (as have I), and it really wasn't that big a deal for us. He had a 4+ reaction--the most severe--to dairy, but after we put the Benadryl cream on his back at the end of the test, the itching stopped and all was well. My son was 5 and 12 when they did the skin tests, if memory serves, and other than feeling itchy, he didn't react at all to having the testing done. He had a big panel done because they were trying to help with his asthma, and we did some food testing because we knew about dairy and eggs and wanted to make sure there weren't some others that didn't cause the big reactions of those two but that might be contributing to his asthma. They did the panels in big batches on his back, maybe 12-20 scratches on each panel. The big challenge was keeping him occupied while we were waiting for the reactions. I'm sorry for the people that found this testing traumatic, because for us it was truly a non-event.

 

[jodifla]

My son had the back test. The initial prick wasn't the problem, it was the terrible itching from the few things that he's allergic too. He cried the entire time until they put the lotion on to stop it. It was pretty awful.